Do you want to know about gym chest and tricep workout? If yes, then you are at the right place. One should pay heed to fitness routines so that they can lead a healthy life.
Gym novices make a common mistake of isolating certain muscle groups and perform overly repetitive routines, while totally ignoring other important muscle groups. Experts reveal that most gym beginners only pay attention to their biceps and not their triceps. Biceps make your arm look bulkier but it’s triceps which shape your arms and make them look attractive. Increasing tricep strength brings stability to your shoulder and arms,improves flexibility and increases your range of motion.
We would like to inform you that in order to develop any muscle, it is necessary to exercise that muscle so that more load can be placed on it and it can grow. That’s why today we are telling you about 10 chests and triceps workouts, in which you will be able to get heavy and shaped arms and a broad chest by including them in your workout plan.
IN THIS ARTICLE
How Are Tricep Muscles Different From Biceps?
Triceps brachii is the human body’s back muscles in the upper arm. The triceps are located between the shoulder and the elbow on the humerus (the prominent bone of the upper arm).
The biceps consists of only two muscles, the outer and inner heads, whereas the triceps consists of three major muscles: the lateral head, the middle head, and the long head. As a result, the triceps is the largest muscle in the hand, accounting for approximately 60% of the hand. It is higher than your elbow. To have good triceps, you must train all three of them. You won’t be able to make good triceps otherwise.
What is a pectoral muscle?
In Human Anatomy, the chest is called pectoral. It contains three muscles: the pectoralis major, serratus anterior, and the pectoralis minor.
The outer muscles are called the pectoral major, and the inner muscles are called the pectoral minor. No matter how many exercises we do or do bench press, we train only our pectoral major. Only with cable fly exercises can you stretch the pectoral minor.
The pectoralis major muscles increase the thickness of the body, and the pectoral minor increase the width.
There are exercises for the upper, middle, and lower chest when it comes to the exterior muscles of the chest. The centerline is the line that separates the left and right chests. The thickness of the right and left chests determines the depth.
Chest And Tricep Workout At Home
You definitely don’t need to hit the gym for training your chest and triceps. Most of the chest and tricep workouts can be performed with just a bench and body weight.
However, if you have a barbell or a dumbbell set, you can do much advanced variations and can get quicker results. But we have made sure in our list to have a variety of no equipments workouts so that you can get the maximum chance of following the routine in any setting.
Those who don’t want to go for bulky weights and cable machines (or those who travel a lot) can replace the equipment with lightweight but powerful resistance bands.
Also Read: 10 Best Resistance Bands to Buy in 2021 for Home or Travel
10 Best Gym Chest And Tricep Workout
Here’s a list of the 10 best gym chest and tricep workout that will help to broaden your chest and strengthen your arms.
Barbell Bench Press
Lifting weights in the barbell/rod allows you to perform the bench press exercise with maximum weight. This exercises your pectoralis major muscles, causing your chest to expand outwards and produce good triceps.
The bench press is a compound exercise popular among bodybuilders, powerlifters, and all classes of athletes. I never meet any fitness trainer who doesn’t recommend benchpress in the chest workout routines. Trainers and fitness experts have developed different variations of bench press for holistic targeting of the pectoralis.
In this list of chest and tricep workouts, I have also included popular variations of benchpress with both barbell and dumbbells as it involves other muscle groups like triceps and shoulders along with the chest muscles.
How to: Keeping your shoulder blades together and hands outside the width of shoulders lie down on a flat bench. Maintain the stiffness of your upper back take a deep breath and lift the barbell from the support bar. Take a few seconds to ensure the lift is parallel to the chest and let the barbell settle. Now bring the barbell close to your chest while inhaling and releasing the elbows.
Lower the barbell parallel to the chest till it touches the chest muscles. Now push it back in the straight line to the starting position while maintaining the tightness of your back and parallelity of the barbell. Push your feet into the ground during pushing the barbell for the thrust.
Reps:
Perform three sets of 15 reps, 10 reps, and 8 reps with a weight that corresponds to your capacity. In this exercise, slowly raise the barbell and then lower it to the level of the shoulder.
Incline Barbell Press
Via Frame Kings
Inclined Barbell Press is a variation of Bench Press which works extensively on your upper chest muscles.
It is similar to the flat bench press as it also involves your triceps and shoulders with the chest. It causes more fatigue and hence the development of upper chest muscles and hence is preferred by those looking for a more challenging workout.
The inclination in the inclined barbell press is close to 35-45 degrees which makes it more powerful than any traditional bench press variations.
How to:
Inclined barbell press can cause injuries and it is essential to maintain the right form throughout the reps than increasing weights and doing it wrong. Make sure the barbell remains parallel to your chest and you can do it by wrapping the thumb around the barbell with the lower palm position. To maintain the stiffness and tension in your triceps and chest make sure to end the reps slightly before the starting position.
While bringing the barbell down keep your shoulder blades in position and exhale. The barbell should touch your breastbone in the downwards motion for best results. If you’re just starting out always use your thumb to maintain the grip on the bar. Your upper back should remain tight during the whole rep to avoid any injuries and feet pushing the ground during the upward motion. Take care of your shoulders and glute and keep them fixed on the bench by squeezing the glute muscles.
Reps:
You can perform 3 sets of 15 reps, 10 reps, and 8 reps while increasing the weight in each set.
Flat Bench Dumbbell Press
Another variation of barbell bench press I included in my chest and tricep workout list is the dumbbell bench press. The greater degree of motion present in the dumbbell bench press makes it more difficult than the barbell bench press. You train your muscles for full mobility and strength with this exercise.
Dumbbell bench press involves chest and triceps development together which makes it a popular choice for someone looking to club chest and tricep workouts together. It also trains your core which makes it quite popular among the coaches.
How to: Sit down on the flat bench while holding the dumbbells in both hands with a neutral grip. Now lay back with your upper back straighten and glute fixed on the bench. Make sure your feet touching the ground properly.
Bring the dumbbells close to your chest muscles and inhale. Now lift the dumbbells together with your shoulder in the correct position and transferring the load from your elbows to your chest. Take the dumbbell to the top position and let it stabilize. Now you’re in the right posture to start.
Now bring back the dumbbell in the starting position close to the chest while exhaling. Slowly take the dumbbell to the peak position and this completes one rep.
Reps:
You can Perform 3 sets of 15 reps, 10 reps, and 8 reps with the increasing weight, or you the keep the weight constant if you’re feeling high fatigue.
Decline Barbell Bench Press
Decline Barbell Bench press is another advanced variation of the bench press with the bench at an angle of 15-20 degrees downwards to the flat position. It works on your arm muscles along with the chest.
How to: Sit on the end of the bench and lie down on the bench with your feet on the ground and your hips firmly squeezed on the bench. Keep your upper back tight and take a deep breath. Now hold the barbell in the top position and let it stabilize. Bring the barbell down in parallel with the chest and let it touches your breastbone while exhaling and releasing the elbows.
Push the barbell back to the start position and one rep is completed.
Reps:
You can keep the 3 sets with descending reps starting from 15 and ascending weight plates on the barbell.
Seated Chest Machine Press
A seated chest machine press is a great way to work and grow your chest muscles as it works directly on your pectoralis and shoulders with the low risk of muscles and joint injuries which is common with bench presses. You can start with the free weight on the machine and increase the load as you move along.
This is also a great workout for people who are looking to broaden their chest muscles for aesthetic at an old age with strength and mobility, It also helps the sports player who is looking to increase their agility and swinging ability.
How to: Sit straight with your back straight touching the machine support. Legs wide apart touching the ground. Now hold both the handles with your shoulder parallel and inhale. Push away the handles together from your body while exhaling and releasing your elbows. Slowly bring back the handles to the starting position.
Reps:
Perform 3 sets of 15 reps, 10 reps, and 8 reps using a weight that corresponds to your capacity.
Bench Dips
Next in our list of chest and tricep workouts is Bench Dips. If you want to pump up your triceps you’ll get it with bench dips. The only thing you have to take care of is the right form. You don’t need any gym setup or complex equipment to perform bench dip and this tricep workout can be easily done at home.
To make bench dips more challenging you can use weight plates on your feet during the workout. Now let’s talk about how you can do bench dips correctly.
How to: Find a bench or some elevated platform and sit on it with your hands on the both sides. Extend your legs in the front while hanging your body through the support of the bench with your overhand grips. Squeeze your glute and lower your body while releasing your elbows till your tricep areas get parallel to the floor. Hold this position for few seconds and return to the starting position.
Reps:- Start with 4 sets of 10-12 reps each.
Chest Dips
Chest dips is one of the most challenging workout and probably one of the most effective workout for the lower chest muscle groups like decline bench press. The major difference is the unique vertical movement which is an integral part of chest dips.
You need minimum setup for the chest dips like dip station or just elevated bars. Chest dips also works on triceps and shoulders.
How to: Hang your body on the dip station with your feet folded backwards and parallel to the ground keep your overhand grip neutral. Lower your body by releasing your elbows making your forearms parallel with the feet and floor. Return back to the starting positon by transferring the load from palms to your chest. This complete on rep of the chest dip.
Keep your feet back and steadily lift your body by bending as far as you can.
Reps:
You can start with 5 reps and slowly increase it to 15 reps.
Incline Cable Fly
If you want to increase the width of your chest you should definitely try Incline Cable Fly. It specifically works on pectoral minor muscles and can be done on flat bench or inclined bench at 30-60 degrees.
How to:
Lie down on the bench which is inclined to 30-45 degree angle and placed between the cables at equal space. Keep your back stiff on the bench.
Press the cables while bending the elbows bringing your arms parallel to floor which is similar to the dumbbell bench press. Squeeze your chest muscles during the movement.
Reps:
Perform 3 sets of 15 reps, 10 reps, and 8 reps using a weight that corresponds to your capacity.
Skullcrusher Exercise
We also call this exercise Lying Triceps Extension, in which you have to lie down on a bench with dumbbells in your hands. After lying down, you have to perform the exercise by fully contracting the tricep muscles.
Reps : 3 sets of 10-12 reps
Push up
I would like to end this chest and tricep workouts list with push-ups. Push-ups work great on your upper-middle and lower chest muscles together along with your arms. There are several variations of push-ups for your shoulders, arms and chest.
How to: While in the high plank position on the floor, keep your body tension intact and avoid forming an arched back by keeping your glute muscles squeezed. Your wrist should be placed in a vertical position under the shoulder.
You can keep the arms narrow or wide depending upon the variation. Go all the way down inhaling while keeping your body straight push your shoulder blades downwards.
Exhale and get back to the start position by pushing your hands on the ground.
Reps:
You can also do 3 sets of 15 reps or more because the chances of injury are very less in this.
Is it best to do triceps with the chest?
The chest and triceps are two distinct muscles that can be worked on at the same time without interfering with one another’s growth. So, do you think chest and triceps work best together? Yes, you can train your gym chest and tricep workout at the same time. Because they are ‘pushing’ movements, they are ideal for combining in a workout. Because the triceps are so important for pressing the chest muscles, it’s best to do your triceps with the chest workout.
This list of gym chest and tricep workout will make sure your muscle growth will be enhanced as you can utilize the fatigue and muscle burn from one workout as warming up and conditioning in a time efficient way by hitting multiple muscle groups in chest and triceps areas.
Should I do chest or triceps first?
Gym Chest and tricep workouts can show amazing results for your muscle growth and strength as both of these muscle groups makes a great pair to be worked out on the same day but I will advice you not to do chest workout immediately after the triceps workout.
But why? As you already know chest pectorals are one of the largest muscles in the upper body and most of the chest workouts involves compound workouts of traps and triceps which would be under great strain and fatigue after the tricep workouts. In short, always train your chest before the triceps workout as it will warm up your triceps for the upcoming workouts.
The easiest way to remember the right sequence is in the name of this article “Gym Chest And Tricep Workout”. Chest before the tricep and not the vice-versa.
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